“Becoming smarter with Augmented Reality“
Robin has been studying Augmented Reality for more than a decade now. We firmly believe that AR is a computer interface with the potential to become a mass medium. We’re constantly evaluating the learning value AR can bring.
AR has applications within the classroom. For example, students or teachers can create interactive poster presentations with AR, adding digital content to their physical posters. However, AR is best used in an interesting real world environment, because this technology adds elements to our reality. This makes AR especially useful in realistic learning settings.
Besides learning we are also interested in how AR allows us to solve problems in new ways, by supporting professionals in the working environment. This can be very valuable to electricians or other mechanics who are constantly on the road. But an app like Google Translate can also help people to close the language gap with your international clients.
In our research program ‘Augmented Reality & Human-Computer Collaboration’ we explore projects where people and computers work together.
How to get started
Do you want to get started with this technology? Try out Google Expeditions and Sketchfab in AR-mode. Read more about these applications in 1. The Quick Winner. Check here whether your smartphone is AR compatible.
We want to emphasize that Augmented Reality has many more technical challenges than VR has. It will take more time before AR hardware and software is really ready for consumers. That means that for VR, more content as well as more accessible creation tools are available.
Therefore we usually advise you to first learn more about Virtual Reality. Follow our courses about the technology behind VR (Course 1) and its applications (Course 2) Check out Course 3 if you want to experience creating a VR project yourself. In our experience, many intended learning goals can be achieved through AR as well as VR.
Next steps
Course 4 focuses on the use of VR in education. Many of the joys and challenges of VR in a classroom or training setting also apply to AR.
Good news for you: we’re currently working on specialized courses to create your own Augmented Reality applications.